Fisheries committee  That's correct. They have a percentage that they'll apply to their formula.

Fisheries committee  I was there when the minister made the decision to shut the groundfish fishery. I was on the water, fishing. Back then, they said they'd close it for five or, maybe, 10 years max, and then it would rebound and come back. It didn't, because they didn't control the seal population.

Fisheries committee  I think DFO should use examples of where it's working and build on that. It seems like the department, when it's planning to have a scientific exercise with industry and first nations, wants to reinvent the wheel. There are processes that have been there, like the lobster node in the gulf, for example, that have had great success.

Fisheries committee  I'm sure it's a problem when you have unregulated fisheries, and it's happening in a few of the fisheries that I know of. Since we're talking about bait, there's no problem with unregulated herring bait fisheries now, because there are none. They've been closed, so that's not an issue.

Fisheries committee  That is a very good question. As you know, there are discussions in the context of an advisory committee on herring and mackerel. Science has indicated that these species are endangered. I have heard this at several meetings. As Canadians, we have stopped fishing mackerel, but the Americans are fishing the same biomass.

Fisheries committee  As far as mackerel is concerned, it will cause problems. The resource will come back later rather than sooner.

Fisheries committee  Given the great precariousness of the resource, as the minister and the scientists have said, I would have liked to have had discussions with the Americans, who should have stopped fishing the same resource.

Fisheries committee  From my perspective, everything should be science-based when it comes to a natural resource. That's where it should come from, not the amount of money a fisherman should or shouldn't make. It should be science-based. I've always said, if you take care of the fish, the fish will take care of you.

Fisheries committee  Thank you for the question. I've raised that same point at different committees. When stocks were going up, the science was everybody's best friend. When the stocks were going down, the program that they were using before was all of a sudden invalid. It didn't work, because the numbers they were coming up with didn't satisfy the fishermen.

Fisheries committee  I'll answer you in the same language. Personally, I think it's necessary when decisions are made on short notice. When DFO decides to close a fishery after very little discussion with the industry, it should compensate the people who totally depend on that fishery. I think that would be necessary.

Fisheries committee  Yes, discussions on science could take place right away. There's no need to wait. In the case of the herring and mackerel fisheries, DFO wants to have discussions in the fall. In my opinion, that's too far away. When a fishery ends, meetings should be held without delay. The time allowed for discussing certain subjects should be limited.

Fisheries committee  Thank you for the question, MP Kelloway, or Mike, if I can call you that.

Fisheries committee  We've known each other for a while. I think you're probably referring to seals and the overpopulation of seals in Atlantic Canada.

Fisheries committee  That's something we have witnessed over many years, with the population getting bigger and bigger. I think there's a need to have a science-based approach to start with. You need that. You need to establish markets for the product you're going to bring ashore. You may even expand into the medical field, because I think the Maggies were doing a study on possibly using the valves.

Fisheries committee  I think it starts by having industry input on the protocol. That would be the basis of how we start. You bring industry together in one room, you talk and you formulate from that an action plan to proceed. What has happened on too many occasions is that DFO wrote a protocol, wrote the standard and then delivered it to industry and said, “Here it is.”